Hello and welcome to my Open lab site. My name is Mikaela Camacho and I am currently a fourth year Communication Design student at City Tech. I attended Williamsburg Charter High School, from which I graduated, Glory to God, a year ahead of schedule with an Advanced Regents Diploma, as the Valedictorian of my class. While in high school, I always thought I wanted to be a teacher, but, after a couple of teaching observations, I realized that that career was not for me.

I strongly believe the adage that says, “If you do what you love, you’ll never work a day in your life”, but I didn’t know what it was I wanted to do. Most kids know what they want to do when they grow up, but I’ve always been different. I recall telling my Mom, “Mommy, I want to be a firefighter, a teacher, a chef, an artist and a marine biologist.” You already know what happened with teaching, and to make the story short, I’m not brave enough to run into a burning building and I don’t like touching uncooked meat (only eating it when it’s served) and I’ve never gotten near an animal other than my late Chihuahua, Spike, so those options were out of the question. After careful consideration, I narrowed my search down to the arts. I have always loved drawing cartoons, solving problems and putting things together, but there were many fields to choose from that had similar characteristics. Thinking it to be the best fit for me, I chose Architecture. At the time, I felt that it combined both of my favorite subjects: art and math, but eventually I noticed that I wasn’t free to draw whatever I wanted. There were many restless nights and I began to see my projects more as an obligation rather than a delight. I needed to reconsider my career path. So, when I heard that Communication Design offered various disciplines, I went right for it. Looking back, I am truly content with the decision I made. This field of expertise has so many options to choose from- Illustration, Advertising, Photography, Graphic Design, etc. And, after taking a couple of courses, I have realized that my specialties are in Advertising and Graphic Design.